About the MMRC
The committee was a state level, multidisciplinary committee. It met at least annually to evaluate abstracted cases from the variety of perspectives of the diverse team.
Purpose
The goals of the MMRC were to:
- Perform a multidisciplinary review of maternal mortality cases
- Identify trends and risk factors
- Provide recommendations to guide preventive measures and strategies
- Disseminate the findings and recommendations to individuals and organizations
Process
Before the committee met, a case narrative was written for the committee members to review. The case narrative was constructed from a variety of records, including information about hospitalizations, vital statistics, and medical records and autopsy reports. All personally identifiable information, such as names of patients, providers, facilities, or communities was removed before the information was provided to MMRC members. No individual health care providers were identified and no data that could identify the individual was released to the public.
The result of the MMRC review process was not intended to imply blame or substitute for institutional or professional peer review. Rather, the review process sought to learn from and prevent future maternal deaths.
Definitions
PREGNANCY-ASSOCIATED DEATH
The death of a woman while pregnant or within one year of the termination of pregnancy, regardless of the cause.
PREGNANCY-RELATED DEATH
The death of a woman during pregnancy or within one year of the end of pregnancy, from a pregnancy complication, a chain of events initiated by pregnancy, or the aggravation of an unrelated condition by the physiologic effects of pregnancy.
Former Committee Positions
- Physician who specializes in family medicine
- Physician who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology
- Physician who specializes in maternal fetal medicine
- Medical examiner/pathologist/physician who conducts autopsies
- Physician who specializes in family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, or emergency medicine in a rural setting
- Advanced practice professional nurse midwife
- Registered nurse
- Midwife
- Coroner
- Master social worker
- Emergency medical services provider
- Public health representative with expertise in maternal and child health